The PAMELA experiment in space

We provide in this paper a status report of the space experiment PAMELA. PAMELA aims primarily to measure the flux of antiparticles, namely antiprotons and positrons, in cosmic rays with unprecedented statistics over a large energy range. Tn addition, it will measure the light nuclear components of cosmic rays, investigate phenomena connected to Solar and Earth physics and it will search for cosmic ray antinuclei with sensitivity better than 10(-7) in the He/He ratio. PAMELA consists of a magnet spectrometer, a transition radiation detector, an imaging calorimeter, a time of flight system and an anticoincidence detector. The apparatus will be installed on board of the Russian satellite of the Resurs type in a polar orbit at about 680 km of altitude. The launch is foreseen for late 2002/early 2003. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.